The present disclosure relates to a sheet package, and more particularly to a sheet package that has a package member to protect an exterior of a stack of sheets, and that can be loaded in a printer together with the package member.
Conventionally, a sheet package has been known which stores a stack of sheets in a box-like package member. When the sheets are used for printing, a lid portion of the package member may be opened and folded back to the opposite side and the sheets may be set in the printer together with the packaging member (see, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2003-285939). Because this conventional sheet package allows users to handle a plurality of sheets in the unit of a package, the usability is improved. Moreover, because the sheet package can protect sheets inside by covering them with the package member, the sheet package is especially useful when heat-sensitive sheets, which are particularly susceptible to light and heat, are employed.
However, the conventional sheet package itself does not have a structure with which an out of paper condition can be detected. Thus, a printer in which the conventional sheet package is loaded determines that it has run out of sheets only when the printer cannot detect any sheet even after a predetermined time has elapsed. As a result, there has been a problem that it takes time before the printer actually detects that no sheets are left. In addition, the conventional sheet package has a rectangular wall portion which extends from a bottom portion in such a way that a shorter side of the rectangular wall portion is in contact with the lower end of the bottom portion when the package is spread out. The wall portion faces the bottom portion on which stacked sheets are to be placed and covers an upper face of the stacked sheets. Thus, if the size of sheets stored in the sheet package is enlarged, the length in the longitudinal direction of the package member is increased, and thus, a sheet material from which the package member is to be cut out is enlarged. As a result, the amount of sheet material to be cut off to be wasted is also increased.
The present disclosure has been achieved to solve the above-mentioned problem, and an object of the present disclosure is to provide a sheet package having a structure that enables immediate detection of an out of paper condition, in which no printer sheets are left. Another object of the present disclosure is to provide a sheet package which can minimize the amount of sheet material that is cut off to be wasted when the package member is cut out, even if the sheets to be stored in the sheet package are enlarged.
The present disclosure provides a sheet package that can be set in a printer for supplying the printer sheets as print media and that includes a stack of sheets and a package member covering an exterior of the stack of sheets, wherein the package member includes a rectangular first portion covering a part of one face of the stack of sheets in a stacking direction, a rectangular second portion connecting with one end of the first portion and covering the one face of the stack of sheets together with the first portion, and a detection hole or a detection cutout that is provided at a position facing the second portion for detecting a presence or an absence of a sheet of the stack of sheets, and when the second portion is folded towards one side, a part of the stack of sheets is exposed from the package member and the second portion no longer faces the detection hole or the detection cutout.